Meeting Abstract

18.3  Sunday, Jan. 4  Genomic analysis of genotype-dependent responses of marine larvae to temperature change CUROLE, J.P; MANAHAN, D.T.**; Univ. of Southern California manahan@usc.edu

Wide variation in the response to temperature change is a common phenomenon in many species. The focus of this study was to (i) determine if there is a genetic component to this variance, (ii) to understand the relationship between genotype and environment, and (iii) quantify the transcriptomic complexity of this phenotype. Differentially temperature-sensitive phenotypes were produced using genetically-defined larval families of the marine bivalve Crassostrea gigas. Larvae from reciprocal hybrid crosses showed different genotype-dependent responses to temperature. Whole-genome expression analysis of 25.5 million cDNAs from larvae identified a set of distinct transcripts that showed a significant interaction between genotype and temperature. Further analysis of these genes will lead to the identification of marker genes that could be used to predict what percent of a species’ progeny is adaptive under variable environmental conditions. Such information for dispersive larval phases will greatly enhance modeling efforts to predict species distribution ranges in the changing ocean.